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The Mist (2007)

When I rented this DVD I got a tip from one of the guys at Broadway Market Video. He said: “Be sure you watch the black and white version first.” I am so glad I took his advice, and now I’m also glad I didn’t see the theatrical release. Although the film works both in color and black and white, I was delighted by the eeriness and the creepy mysteriousness of the mist itself in the version the director chose.

Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption; The Green Mile) is a smart, capable filmmaker who really understands the work of Stephen King.
But for some reason Dimension Films, the production unit Bob and Harvey Weinstein took with them when they split from The Walt Disney Company, decided to go against Darabont’s wishes and present The Mist in movie theaters in color. The Weinsteins, with their long history in indie cinema, ought to have known better. This is a story that begs to be told in black and white. Fortunately, the DVD offers both versions, as well as some fun and fascinating behind-the-scenes extras.

The Mist was first published in 1980, and its roots are deep. Influenced by 1970s zombie films, 1950s sci-fi invasion movies, and especially the 1920s-30s writing of H. P. Lovecraft, The Mist is about monsters. Whether they come from the deep, the sky, the earth, or another dimension, what matters in this quintessential Stephen King tale is how humans cope. In that spirit, Darabont has fashioned a new ending for The Mist, one so perfect that even King wishes he’d thought of it.

The premise is elegant in its simplicity. In a small town in Maine, a father drives to the local supermarket with his young son and a neighbor. While the three are shopping the place is engulfed in a mysterious mist. As all the people in the store soon realize, the mist has brought with it a bizarre array of creatures–all of them, apparently, intent upon devouring humans. The question is whether the humans will have the ingenuity and strength of character to survive.

In the hands of a director who didn’t love the story, this could have been silly stuff. But Darabont is clearly having the time of his life. His black and white cinematography creates an eerie atmosphere that feels timeless rather than retro. He has gathered a terrific ensemble of actors who make the most of every moment, and he has shot the action using several cameras simultaneously. The result is a constantly shifting yet tightly focused kaleidoscope of desperate behavior. Thanks to Marcia Gay Harden, Andre Braugher, Toby Jones, William Sadler, Jeffrey DeMunn and Frances Sternhagen, the fears of the group remain recognizable even as they spiral down into more and more depraved acts.

Both King and Darabont love monsters, but they keep their story centered on human society. What matters here is the nature of the beast–not the creatures outside, but the one hidden in all of us. How deep is our fear, and what power does it have to shape our mental condition? What will we do to survive? What will we do to save our loved ones from horror?

So I come to the ending again. I won’t give away what happens. I just want to say to Frank Darabont: Thank you. Thanks for giving the audience credit. Thanks for doing what most American filmmakers never do. Whether it’s fear of the darkness in our own nature, or an insane level of optimism, we just don’t want to go there.

Even our horror films are plagued by moral statements and happy endings. Witness the massacre of story text in the otherwise engaging (thanks to Will Smith) I Am Legend. Anyone who has read Richard Matheson’s original novella and liked it will find the third attempt at filming it a hazy and unnecessarily heroic rendition. The protagonist has been forced into a role of ridiculous stature, when the “hero” of the book faced a more ignominious and therefore much more moving fate.

Why? Have we so thoroughly convinced ourselves that drama is entertainment and it must be fun, that we’ve lost our ability to use it as a means of catharsis? Are we so dear and so sweet that we can’t follow a story to its natural conclusion, however painful it might be?

With The Mist, Darabont says no. With a final scene that says everything about the limitations of humanity, he has thrown down the gauntlet. It will be interesting to see how many other filmmakers take up the challenge.

Note: This is a seattlepi.com reader blog. It is not written or edited by the P-I. The authors are solely responsible for content. E-mail us at newmedia@seattlepi.com if you consider a post inappropriate.